008.

"𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐉𝐉. 𝐏𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞." John B said. Today was the day. The day they finished what their parents started. "Roger that! X marks the spot."

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. To going full kook." John B said as he dropped the drone. Emerson felt a bunch of emotions. Scared, excited, overwhelmed, nervous, and a ton more emotions, all at once.

···

"Okay, 900!" Kie shouted at the Pogues, while she and Emerson were lowering the drone down. There was a storm approaching quickly, and everyone started to worry.

"JJ, we'll turtle in this storm!" John B shouted to JJ, who was driving the boat.

"920!" Emerson yelled.

"Crank it north by northwest! Ten seconds!" John B shouted. Emerson was growing more and more anxious by the second. First of all being the storm, but also because she really hoped the gold was down there, so that she could make her parents proud.

"John B, there's too much current!" Kie yelled to John B, as she and Emerson tried to keep it from going towards the propeller and losing it. "We're gonna lose it!"

"South, southwest, JJ! Hard!" John B called out. "Half speed. Steady at this bearing, JJ!"

"What do you got, Pope? Come on, man. What do you see?" John B said anxiously.

"Nothing. A whole lot of nothing." Pope responded. "Come on, you should be right above it." John B said.

"960! 970! 980!" the girls yelled.

"I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" Pope said excitedly. "Okay, steady here, JJ! Steady speed. Quarter speed, alright?" John B commanded JJ.

Everyone went to see the screen of the drone to see if they could see anything. "See anything?" JJ asked, still driving the boat.

Emerson and John B looked at each other and gave each other the biggest hug. "It's the Royal Merchant."

···

"It's not there. Look, just, just pull the drone up." John B whispered, disappointed. Emerson didn't know to feel except, disappointment. They may have found the Royal Merchant, but 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥?

"Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery. We can go back down." Pope suggests. He felt really bad for Emerson and John B, considering they really wanted to find it to make their parents proud. "We've done it three times. There's nothing there." JJ yells. "Shut up!" Kie shouts at JJ.

Emerson felt so defeated. Her heart ached knowing that this was all for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"The gold could be buried. We don't know!" Kie said, trying to make him shut up since he wasn't helping the situation.

"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it." Emerson voice breaks. She had tears rolling down her cheeks, and everyone looked at her and John B with sympathy. "Or it was never there." JJ mumbled under his breath so that no one could hear him.

John B sat next to Emerson, who was heartbroken with the fact that everything was for nothing. She couldn't complete what her parents started, and that made her cry harder. She didn't want anyone to hear her cry, but John B could hear, so he put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. While the two teenagers felt defeated, the three other teenagers didn't say a word. They were disappointed, but they all knew how important this was for the two Pogues.

···

As Emerson and John B walked to the Chateau, John B noticed how puffy and red Emerson's eyes were. She calmed down a couple minutes ago, but he was too afraid to say a word. He was afraid she would break down again if he said anything. Emerson was exhausted, and she was ready to take a nap and sleep away the disappointment.

"Hey, buddy." a voice startled her as she entered the Chateau. 𝘈𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯.

"You know, Cheryl, it's kinda of a bad time for a check-in." John B sighed. Emerson followed right behind him, ready to flop down on any bed she sees. "Not a check-in. We're here to take you." Cheryl said.

Emerson choked on her own spit after what she just heard. 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺? She didn't want to believe anything she just heard. Her day had already been ruined, and the fact that she might lose John B too would be a complete nightmare.

"Today? Really?" John B pulled her out of her thoughts. "It's just for a few weeks until your hearing." Cheryl told him.

Emerson started to grow anxious. She started to pinch the bridge of her nose, hoping it would help her anxiety coming through. John B noticed and took her hands in his. "No, no, no. Cheryl, look, I'm not going into foster care, okay? I'm not gonna go be part on your little system."

All of a sudden, they hear a radio beep behind them. Then, a guy with no neck appears. "Guys, this is Deputy Thomas. He works with juveniles for the sheriff's department."

John B and Emerson immediately stand up, and walk to the other side of the table. "Look, I know Uncle T is down in Mississippi working at a casino. He hasn't been here in months." Cheryl said.

"Oh my gosh, Cheryl. Let the poor kid be. He's already been through enough, and you and your dog over there is making it even more stressful for him. You know stress can cause serious depression and anxiety, right? Right, so let him be." Emerson said rolling her eyes. She was already so fed up with the whole situation.

Suddenly, John B tried to run away. He was fighting with Deputy Thomas, and after awhile the deputy ended up tackling him to the ground. "What the fuck! Cheryl, come on. Tell your dog to get off!" Emerson screams at Cheryl.

"Relax, John." Cheryl said. "Okay, okay. I give up." John B said, and Emerson swore she felt her heart stop.

···

"John B, please don't do this." Emerson cried as she hugged John B for the last time. John B was the only person she had left, and she already felt her world crumbling. "Trust me, I'll be fine, okay? I'll find my way back to you." John B said, holding her face in his hands before planting a kiss on her lips.

"I love you, Bird."

"I love you, Bubba."

Before she knew it, Emerson had watched the blue and white cop SUV drive away. Not only did that SUV drive away, but also her whole world. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦. He was the only person keeping her from doing anything stupid after their parents' disappearance, and now he was 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦. Her best friend since day one.

As she entered the Chateau, she couldn't help but fall on her knees and sob. She knew she couldn't stay in there any longer, so she grabbed her skateboard and skated to the police station.

"Hi, is Sheriff Peterkin here?" Emerson asked the lady at the front desk. "Yes, she's in her office."

As Emerson walked down the hall, she knocked on the sheriff's door. "Come in!" she heard her say.

"Hi Momma Peterkin." Emerson said, her voice breaking. Sheriff Peterkin immediately saw her puffy, red eyes, so she stood up to give Emerson a hug. "What happened?" she asked.

"They took away John B. He was the only person I had left, and they just took him away. And now I have no one left who understands me like John B did. No one." Emerson sobbed. Sheriff Peterkin knew exactly what was happening from her sentences. DCS took him away from the poor girl standing in front of her.

"You know what I think? I think he'll find his way back to you somehow. I mean, have you seen that kid? He's probably already escaped without us knowing. But even if he did take that ferry to mainland for foster care, I'll make sure we can find him so that you can keep in touch." Sheriff Peterkin smiled at the girl.

The girl smiled back and prayed that he had escaped from DCS. "Thank you Momma Peterkin."

···

Emerson walked to her house, because she couldn't stand being in the Chateau knowing John B wasn't there. When she walked in, she was met with a clean house. 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦. She didn't remember cleaning the house up after the home invasion with the 'square groupers.'

She still felt a weird, unsettling feeling in her stomach, even though she was home. She decided to do the one thing she did every summer. 𝘎𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯.

Every year, Emerson would visit her cousin, Morgan, who was a 19 year old girl living on her own. Although Morgan and her parents are close, Morgan wanted to know what it was like to be independent, so she bought her own apartment. Last year when Emerson visited, she helped Morgan decorate the inside of her new apartment. Now, she was going to see her once again.

Emerson packed her bags to ride the ferry in a couple hours, and come back home in 2 days. She was excited to see Morgan again, considering she hasn't seen her in a year.

Emerson left her house and started heading towards the ferry. When she got on the ferry, she couldn't stop thinking of John B. 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺? 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦? 𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸?

After overthinking everything, the ferry finally came to a stop, and Emerson was on her way to go see her cousin again.

···

author's note: [word count: 1595]

episode 3 is down! i'm not gonna write Emerson and Morgan's time together, sorry. I'm too lazy for that. It might start out with John B asking where Emerson is when he returns from Chapel Hill, i don't know.